Victims of a kitchen company that took customers’ money but never delivered its products say they are “in limbo” with no apparent investigation.

Stephen Griggs spent almost £12,000 on a kitchen and bathroom suite from Home Improvement World in 2014. He has never received them and has since been in contact online with 10 others in similar situations. Five customers disclosed how much they spent and the total figure was more than £31,000.

It has since emerged that the company has been operating inside five Tesco stores across the south east of England without any authorisation or vetting, including shops in Watford and Harrow.

The kitchen firm’s managing director said it is working hard to sort out “outstanding issues”.

But Mr Griggs and the other victims have criticised Tesco and the authorities for not taking action.

People can no longer contact Trading Standards directly, instead they are directed to the Citizen’s Advice Consumer Service. If it deems a case serious enough, it will be passed on to Trading Standards and to the police via Action Fraud, a national fraud reporting centre.

Mr Griggs said: “Despite so many people reporting this crime, none of these agencies are communicating directly with the victims.

“There has been no confirmation that our cases are being dealt with and so the victims of this crime are just left in limbo.

“The added stress for victims and having no feedback from these agencies is immense; we have no idea if this is being investigated or not.”

Mr Griggs believes Tesco should be accountable for allowing it to operate inside its stores for so long. He also said the police and Trading Standards failed to communicate with victims.

Mr Griggs and others are the latest in a series of people who have come forward after the Observer first wrote about the company in August. Each victim has directly dealt with Akhtar Ahmed Sheikh - known as Adam - who is believed to be the managing director of the company.

Each victim describes a similar pattern of events: they pay for the kitchen in cash or by direct debit; communication breaks down between them and Mr Sheikh; personal reasons are cited as excuses as to why the kitchen has not arrived and then communication stops.

Tesco has confirmed that 11 of its customers have purchased kitchens from Home Improvement World and its sister company, Amazing Kitchens, and not received the product.

The supermarket chain would not confirm whether the company was still operating inside its stores, or how long it remained in them, but said “guidance had been issued” to employees to look out for people who were not authorised.

In 2006, Mr Sheikh was suspended from being a company director for seven years after “leaving customers out of pocket”. He was then working as a director of Dream Interiors.

Mr Griggs said that when Mr Sheikh first visited his home in 2014, he was working for Tesco Kitchens, which subsequently closed down. Tesco has refused to confirm this.

Today, Mr Griggs received a letter from Action Fraud stating that it had not identified any leads that would result in a successful criminal investigation so his report had not been sent to a local police force or other enforcement.

Mr Griggs said: “This man needs to be stopped, and hopefully if we all come together we can achieve that.

“I don’t hold out much hope for getting my money back but I can’t sit back knowing this is happening, I can't let other people suffer what I and the 10 others have been through.

“We need to try and find out who will sort this out; we’re all going through this cycle but no one wants to take responsibility. What are we going to do? I trusted him.”

Minal Patel purchased a kitchen from Home Improvement World while it was operating inside Tesco in Watford, in Lower High Street. Mr Patel said he had lost all faith in the supermarket after it refused to help him.

In emails between Mr Patel and a Tesco customer service executive, he said Tesco needed to take more responsibility for allowing an unvetted and unauthorised company to work in its premises.

In an email, the employee replied that Tesco is “a victim too” as its brand had been damaged.

The employee apologised for being “blunt” but said “your quarrel isn’t with us, it’s with those that have taken your money”. She added that she would not respond to Mr Patel again.

A number of other customers have come forward, including Anish Shah, who paid almost £5,000 for his kitchen while shopping at Tesco, in Station Road, Harrow.

He said: “The reason I trusted this man was because he was operating in Tesco.”

Joe Chapman, speaking on behalf of Tesco, said: “We are investigating claims that Home Improvement World has been operating inside our stores without permission and that some customers have not received the services they paid this company for. We’d like to apologise to any customers who have been affected by this and are speaking to anyone who has concerns.

“We pride ourselves on the high standard of our customer service and were therefore very concerned to hear of this correspondence with one of the customers who was affected. We are investigating the matter internally.”

Speaking on behalf of Hertfordshire Trading Standards, Russell Reeder said: “Any resident who wishes to report a trader or requires further advice on their rights should contact Trading Standards through the Citizens Advice consumer service on 03454 04 05 06.”

Sue Cocker, speaking on behalf of Barnet Council, said Barnet residents who wish to make a complaint or receive consumer advice were sent to Citizens Advice Consumer Services. If the complaint received is serious it will be passed to trading standards.

Harrow Trading Standards were contacted for a comment but had not replied before the paper went to print.